Some day, I will learn that things will never, ever, ever go like I think they will, especially if it involves reading maps, but that day is not today, and it definitely wasn't the day we went on this hike.
We were (over) prepared for a fifteen mile hike that was supposed to hit some nice falls at some point, but we never made it and ended up just turning around after we'd been out for a couple of hours, but it was lovely all the same. I grew up fully ensconced in typical suburban America and never did much exploring outside of a ten or fifteen mile radius from home, so seeing this part of Maryland was like a whole new world!
I may have a slightly obsessive personality. Evidence: I spent a minimum of an hour trying to google this flower. If you haven't had occasion (or interest) to do so yourself, trust me, it's not exactly an easy task. Bugs may be even harder to google. This is a lanceleaf tickseed flower.
We may have hopped off the trail a couple of times to climb around on whatever we thought looked interesting and non-life-threatening. If my friend Jessie sitting there on that little pebble gives you any idea of the scale, these were no tiny rocks.
These were all over the place and I loved the shape from the back. Mountain laurel is indigenous to the Eastern US and is sometimes called Spoonwood, supposedly because Native Americans used to make their spoons out of it. I'm not sure if I believe that or not because it's poisonous. So: If you find some, look, but don't eat.
This reminded me of Lord of the Rings. But I haven't seen the movies more than once each, nor have I read the books, so that may just be a me thing.
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